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Eukaryotic Cell, October 2006, p. 1738-1747, Vol. 5, No. 10
1535-9778/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/EC.00165-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E 50th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64110,1 Penn State University College of Medicine, 500 University St., Hershey, Pennsylvania 170332
Received 5 June 2006/ Accepted 5 July 2006
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SWI/SNF is a 1.15-MDa nucleosome remodeling complex composed of 12 subunits (27, 54). It also serves as an important coactivator for a subset of yeast genes (16a, 55). SWI/SNF is recruited to gene promoters by sequence-specific DNA-binding transcription activators that interact with the Snf5 and Swi1 subunits (14, 38, 39, 47). The SWI/SNF complex utilizes the ATPase activity of the Swi2/Snf2 subunit to disrupt and/or mobilize nucleosomes (6, 10, 15, 19, 26, 43, 45, 48). SWI/SNF activity can result in histones being removed from a segment of DNA either by nucleosome sliding in cis or by nucleosome displacement (octamer transfer) in trans (46, 58).
There are clear instances in vivo where SAGA and SWI/SNF work in concert during the process of gene activation. For example, at the cell-cycle-regulated HO endonuclease gene both the SAGA and the SWI/SNF complexes play an important role in providing an epigenetic memory of the action of the Swi5 transcription activator until later in the cell cycle when HO transcription is induced (9). SAGA and SWI/SNF remain stably associated with the HO promoter after the loss of Swi5, which was required to recruit them. A more detailed analysis of the HO promoter has revealed that SWI/SNF binding requires histone acetylation by Gcn5 to overcome repression by Ash1 and Sin3/Rpd3 (35). Stable association of SAGA and SWI/SNF with promoter nucleosomes can be achieved through the bromodomains found in both the Swi/Snf2 subunit of SWI/SNF and the Gcn5 subunit of SAGA (14, 15, 39, 47). These bromodomains have been found to recognize acetylated lysine residues (11, 17, 21, 34, 41, 42).
Other examples of genes activated by SAGA and SWI/SNF are the PHO5 and PHO8 genes. Induction of these genes involves transient acetylation of promoter nucleosomes by SAGA. Loss of the acetylated histones is dependent on the presence of SWI/SNF (1, 49, 50). This observation is most consistent with SWI/SNF playing a role in the displacement of acetylated nucleosomes at these promoters. Throughout the genome, activated promoters are depleted of nucleosomes (28), and indeed, the promoters of these genes seem to have lost contact with histones during activation (2, 3, 24).
In light of these in vivo observations we sought to determine whether the SWI/SNF complex was capable of displacing nucleosomes that contained SAGA-acetylated histones. We report here that SWI/SNF is able to remove SAGA-acetylated histones from nucleosomal arrays in vitro and that this activity is partly dependent on the bromodomain of Swi2/Snf2. Moreover, acetylated histones were displaced more readily than bulk histones, indicating that SAGA-acetylated promoter nucleosomes were marked for displacement by SWI/SNF.
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Reconstitution of immobilized arrays. Immobilized template was made by digesting the pG5E4T array with NgoMIV (NEB) overnight at 37°C. The fragment was biotinylated by Klenow fill-in using biotin dCTP for 30 min at room temperature. After heat inactivation, the template was ethanol precipitated and digested with NheI overnight at 37°C, so the template was biotinylated at only one end. The template was reconstituted by step dilution with HeLa core histones into a nucleosomal array (44). The array was bound to streptavidin-magnetic beads at 30°C for 3 h on an inline rotator. The immobilized array was washed extensively and stored at 4°C with 100 ng of HeLa oligonucleosomes/µl. The array was quantified by titration with known quantities of HeLa core histone by silver staining (45).
Immunoblots and fluorography. For immunoblots, approximately 100 ng of yeast or HeLa nucleosome was incubated with acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) and/or SAGA for 30 min in 1x HAT buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl [pH 8], 25% glycerol, 0.5 mM EDTA pH 8, 50 mM KCl, 5 mM dithiothreitol [DTT], 5 µl, 5 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride [PMSF]). One-half of the reaction was subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and silver stained, while the other half was electrophoresed and immunoblotted with either an anti-acetyl H3 antibody or an anti-acetyl H4 antibody. For fluorography, approximately 2 µg of yeast or HeLa nucleosome were incubated with H3-acetyl-CoA and/or SAGA for 30 min in 1x HAT buffer. One-half of the reaction was subjected to SDS-PAGE and Coomassie blue stained, while the other half was subjected to SDS-PAGE and incubated in ENHANCE, and the gel was subjected to fluorography.
Radiolabeled histone eviction assay.
An
approximately 5 nM concentration of immobilized array was washed and
resuspended in 1x binding buffer (10 mM HEPES [pH 7.8], 50 mM
KCl, 2 mM MgCl2, 5 mM DTT, 0.5 mM PMSF, 10 mM sodium
butyrate, 0.25 µg bovine serum albumin/µl, 5%
glycerol). The template was incubated with 100 nM
recombinant Gal4-VP16 for 15 min at room temperature
(56). After washing to
remove unbound Gal4-VP16, the array was acetylated by 2 nM SAGA for
1 h at 30°C with H3-acetyl-CoA and 5
µg of competitor chromatin. After radiolabeling, the array was
washed to remove free H3-acetyl-CoA. For nucleosome
displacement, 2.5 nM SWI/SNF was incubated with 0.7 nM array for 10 min
before the addition of 0.3 nM linear acceptor DNA and 3 mM ATP. After
90 min, the supernatant was removed, the immobilized array was washed
twice, and both supernatant and washes were retained for scintillation
counting. The beads were resuspended in the same volume of buffer as
the combined volume of the supernatant and washes and were counted in 5
ml of Scintisafe Econo 2 scintillation cocktail (Fisher Scientific).
Nucleosome displacement was shown to be ATP dependent by inhibiting the
reaction with 6 mM ATP-
-S
[adenosine-5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate)].
Scanning in vitro ChIP assay on immobilized array. Approximately 250 fmol of immobilized array was washed and resuspended in 1x binding buffer (10 mM HEPES [pH 7.8], 50 mM KCl, 2 mM MgCl2, 5 mM DTT, 0.5 mM PMSF, 10 mM sodium butyrate, 0.25 µg of bovine serum albumin/µl, 5% glycerol) to a final concentration of 5 nM. The array was incubated with 100 nM recombinant Gal4-VP16 for 15 min at room temperature (56). After a washing step, the activator-bound template was then acetylated with 0.2 nM SAGA for 30 min at 30°C in the presence of 5 µg of competitor chromatin. If the activator was removed, the template was washed twice and resuspended in 1x binding buffer with 5 µg of competitor chromatin and 200 nM Gal4 oligonucleotide. After acetylation and oligonucleotide competition, the template was either micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digested or subjected to SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement. For the nucleosomes displacement reaction, 2.5 nM SWI/SNF or 5 nM RSC (remodels the structure of chromatin) was incubated with 0.7 nM array for 10 min before the addition of 0.3 nM linear acceptor DNA and 3 mM ATP. After 1.5 h, the supernatant was removed, and the array was washed twice with 1x binding buffer. The template was resuspended in 1x binding buffer with 5 µg of competitor chromatin and digested with 10 U of MNase (Worthington LS004797) for 10 min at room temperature. The mononucleosomes and dinucleosomes were precleared with salmon sperm DNA and protein A-agarose beads (Upstate catalog no. 16-157). The supernatant was mixed with 1 µl of anti-acetyl K9 H3 antibody (Upstate catalog no. 06-599) or anti-histone H3 antibody (Abcam) overnight. The mixture was bound to protein A-agarose beads for 2 h and washed extensively. The supernatant was retained, and the immunoprecipitate was washed extensively prior to elution. Both the supernatant and the immunoprecipitate eluate were subjected to proteinase K digestion at 55°C for 1 h, phenol-chloroform extracted, and ethanol precipitated. The resulting DNA fragments were slot blotted onto a positively charged nylon membrane, Zeta-Probe GT (Bio-Rad catalog no. 162-0196). The membrane was probed with a series of radiolabeled DNA fragments that span the length of the pG5E4T array (57). The membrane was analyzed on Typhoon (Amersham) and quantified by using ImageQuant (Amersham). The level of acetylation on each segment of the array was quantified by using the percent IP (%IP), which is the immunoprecipitated fraction divided by the sum of the immunoprecipitated fraction and the supernatant. The relative acetylation on the template was compared by using the relative %IP, which normalizes the %IP to promoter proximal acetylation.
Immunoblots. Using conditions identical to the ChIP assay, 5 nM array was acetylated with 0.2 nM SAGA, after binding to activator Gal4VP16. The array could then be subjected to nucleosome displacement by SWI/SNF as described above. After gel electrophoresis, transfer, and blocking, the polyvinylidene difluoride membrane was immunoblotted with anti-acetyl K9 H3 antibody (Upstate catalog no. 06-599) and anti-histone H4 (Upstate catalog no. 05-858). The immunoblots were developed with ECL Plus and detected by scanning on Typhoon (Amersham GE). The data was quantified on an ImageQuant TL (Amersham GE).
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Since our system uses heterologous components, we tested whether HeLa nucleosomes and yeast nucleosomes were acetylated equivalently by yeast SAGA. As a loading control, we normalized for histone content by silver staining (Fig. 1A, i). While in parallel, immunoblots detected equivalent levels of H3 and H4 acetylation on yeast and HeLa nucleosomes, after incubation with SAGA and acetyl-CoA (Fig. 1A, ii and iii). The immunoblots also revealed a low level of acetylation with the yeast nucleosomes when SAGA was not present, which was due to either preexisting acetylation or acetylation by substoichiometric amounts of nucleosomal HATs in the yeast nucleosome preparation. To distinguish between these two causes, we used fluorography and Coomassie blue staining as a loading control for histone content (Fig. 1A, iv). After incubation with H3-acetyl-CoA and SAGA, a strong acetylation signal was detected on H3, H2B, and H4 for both yeast and HeLa nucleosomes (Fig. 1A, v). However, the fluorography also revealed that yeast nucleosomes were acetylated in the absence of SAGA, implying that the yeast nucleosomes contained HATs that modestly acetylated the nucleosomes.
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FIG. 1. SWI/SNF
reduces the amount of acetylation detected on immobilized nucleosomal
arrays. (A) Yeast and HeLa nucleosomes are equivalent
substrates for yeast SAGA acetylation. Yeast or HeLa nucleosomes were
incubated with acetyl-CoA and/or yeast SAGA. (i) As a loading control,
half the reaction was silver stained. (ii and iii) The nucleosomes were
immunoblotted with antibodies directed against anti-acetyl H3 and
anti-acetyl H4, respectively. For fluorography, yeast or HeLa
nucleosomes were incubated with H3-acetyl-CoA and/or yeast
SAGA. (iv and v) As a loading control, half the reaction was Coomassie
blue stained (iv) prior to electrophoresis, ENHANCE treatment, and
fluorography (v). (B) SWI/SNF treatment causes a decrease in
acetylation on the nucleosome array. Using competitor chromatin, the
artificial activator Gal4-VP16 targets SAGA acetylation, and the array
is subjected to SWI/SNF treatment, with acceptor DNA and
ATP. After nucleosome displacement, the supernatant is removed, and the
array is MNase digested and immunoprecipitated with an anti-acetyl H3
antibody. The immunoprecipitated nucleosomes are subjected to DNA
purification and slot blotted onto nylon membrane, along with the
supernatant. The membrane is probed with end-labeled full-length pG5E4T
template. The %IP is the immunoprecipitated fraction divided by the sum
of the immunoprecipitated fraction and the supernatant. In this case,
the %IP was normalized to the %IP without SWI/SNF treatment. (C)
SWI/SNF targets and displaces activator-targeted SAGA acetylation. The
artificial activator Gal4-VP16 is bound to the immobilized nucleosomal
array. After the addition of competitor, the array is acetylated with
SAGA. The array is subjected to SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement with
ATP and acceptor DNA, and the beads are counted on a scintillation
counter. The loss of acetylation on the beads corresponds to
nucleosomes displaced by SWI/SNF from the array. The change in
acetylation on the array is expressed as the relative percent
acetylated histones on the
beads.
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We confirmed the role of SWI/SNF in the loss of acetylated histones by using an in vitro chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay (Fig. 1B). Immobilized arrays were bound by Gal4-VP16, and competitor chromatin was included prior to the addition of SAGA so acetylation would be targeted to the promoter region. The acetylated array was then incubated with or without SWI/SNF, ATP, and acceptor DNA. After being washed, the array was digested into mononucleosomes and dinucleosomes with MNase and then immunoprecipitated with an antibody against acetylated K9 on histone H3. Nucleosomes that bound the antibody were separated with protein A-agarose beads from the supernatant, and the beads were washed extensively. DNA was purified from the immunoprecipitated material, as well as the supernatant, and slot blotted onto a nylon membrane. After hybridization to a probe that spanned the length of the pG5E4T template, we observed a decrease in total signal (supernatant and beads) after SWI/SNF treatment, representing an overall loss of histones prior to MNase digestion. Immunoprecipitation experiments (i.e., %IP) revealed that a smaller fraction of nucleosomes remained on the array in the sample treated with SWI/SNF compared to that not treated with SWI/SNF (Fig. 1B). These data indicated that SAGA-acetylated histones were lost during SWI/SNF treatment. In fact, SWI/SNF treatment resulted in the loss of over half of the SAGA-acetylated histones (Fig. 1B).
SWI/SNF suppresses the histone acetylation peak generated by activator targeting of SAGA. In previous studies, GCN5 was shown to produce a peak of acetylation in vivo at the HIS3 promoter. These results were recapitulated in vitro on a nucleosomal array, where the SAGA complex produced a peak of acetylation that surrounded activator binding sites (25, 57). We hypothesized that displacement of SAGA acetylated histones might suppress this activator-dependent SAGA acetylation peak on nucleosomal arrays.
We performed a scanning in vitro ChIP assay to detect the effects of SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement on the SAGA acetylation peak. The immobilized array was bound by Gal4-VP16. Competitor chromatin was added to the arrays, prior to the addition of acetyl-CoA and SAGA. The acetylation should be preferentially targeted at the promoter by Gal4-VP16 recruitment of SAGA in the presence of competitor chromatin, as previously described (57). The acetylated array was then treated with SWI/SNF in the presence of acceptor DNA and ATP. After MNase digestion, immunoprecipitation (IP) with the acetyl H3 antibody, and DNA purification, the template was slot blotted onto a nylon membrane. The membrane was sequentially hybridized with a series of probes that spanned the length of the template (Fig. 2A). The IP efficiency, or %IP of each segment was normalized to the A segment of the promoter region, where the SAGA acetylation peaked near the activator binding sites as expected (57). After treatment with SWI/SNF, the overall levels of acetylation were decreased. Moreover, the loss of acetylation was most pronounced at the promoter where the SAGA acetylation peak was suppressed (Fig. 2B).
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FIG. 2. Nucleosome
displacement suppresses the SAGA acetylation peak. (A)
Scanning in vitro ChIP assay, with the relative positions of the probes
for the pG5E4T array indicated. The array was subjected to nucleosome
displacement and ChIP as described in Fig.
1B. The membrane was
hybridized to a series of labeled probes shown in the diagram. The
positions of the probes relative to the HindIII restriction enzyme site
are also indicated on the diagram. The blots are shown below each
corresponding probe. (B) The SAGA acetylation peak is
suppressed by SWI/SNF. The %IP was normalized to the %IP at the
A probe, which is upstream of the Gal4 binding sites and the
E4 promoter. The solid line depicts the H3 acetylation profile along
the template, while the dashed line corresponds to the effect of
SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement on the H3 acetylation profile. A
Student t test was used to determine the statistical
significance of the difference in the acetylation profile before and
after SWI/SNF treatment. The P values for the t test
are given below each segment of the
array.
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FIG. 3. Acetylated
histones are preferentially lost after SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement.
(A) The array is bound by activator Gal4-VP16 prior to the
addition of competitor chromatin, followed by acetylation under
competitive conditions with SAGA. After SWI/SNF nucleosome
displacement, free histones are washed away, and the array is subjected
to immunoblotting with an anti-VP16 antibody, an anti-acetyl H3
antibody, and an anti-histone H4 antibody. (B) Scanning in
vitro ChIP assay with histone H3 antibody. The array is subjected to
nucleosome displacement and ChIP as described in Fig.
1B. The membrane is
hybridized to a promoter specific probe (A) and a
distal probe
(C) as shown in the diagram. The blots are shown below each
corresponding probe, along with a bar graph for nucleosomes remaining
on the array. The %IP was normalized to the %IP before nucleosome
displacement.
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The Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain contributes to acetylated nucleosome displacement by SWI/SNF. SWI/SNF is targeted to promoters by transcription activators in a manner similar to that of the SAGA complex (14, 38, 39, 47). Thus, SWI/SNF might preferentially remove histones acetylated by SAGA because it is targeted to the same location on the nucleosome array by Gal4-VP16. To test the importance of the activator in targeting SWI/SNF to the SAGA acetylation peak, we sought to determine whether SWI/SNF targeted acetylated histones, independent of activator. After Gal4-VP16 binding, the immobilized array was acetylated with SAGA, and then Gal4-VP16 was removed by using Gal4 oligonucleotide competition. SWI/SNF treatment was then carried out in the absence of activator. After IP with the anti-acetyl H3 antibody, we observed a decrease in the relative %IP after SWI/SNF treatment (Fig. 4A). After scanning with probes spanning the entire template, we found that SWI/SNF treatment did decrease the SAGA acetylation peak (Fig. 4A), but to a lesser extent than when activator was present (compare with Fig. 2B). When Gal4-VP16 was present during SWI/SNF treatment, 70 and 72% of the acetylated histones were displaced at positions A and +A, respectively, whereas 51 and 44% of the acetylated histones were displaced at positions A and +A, respectively, when GAL4-VP16 was removed prior to SWI/SNF treatment. With or without activator, SWI/SNF displacement of acetylated histones in these regions was significant, with P values of <0.025, when analyzed by the Student t test. Therefore, the presence of activator enhances SWI/SNF-mediated nucleosome displacement but is not required for this activity.
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FIG. 4. The
Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain is required for the transfer of acetylated
histones. (A) SWI/SNF reduction of acetylated histone peak
can occur without Gal4-VP16 targeting of this complex. Scanning in
vitro ChIP analysis after SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement in the
absence of activator Gal4-VP16. The experiment was previously described
in Fig. 2. The template is
bound to activator Gal4-VP16, acetylated by SAGA with competitor
chromatin, and activator is removed by Gal4 oligonucleotide
competition. The array was then subjected to SWI/SNF nucleosome
displacement and immunoprecipitated with an anti-acetyl H3 antibody.
The graph depicts the loss of promoter-acetylated nucleosomes after
SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement without activator. The %IP was
normalized to the %IP at the A probe. The solid line depicts
the H3 acetylation profile along the template, while the dashed line
corresponds to the effect of SWI/SNF nucleosome displacement on the H3
acetylation profile. (B) Scanning in vitro ChIP analysis
after activator is removed and SWI/SNF bromodomain mutant treatment.
The experiment was as described in Fig.
2. Gal4-VP16 targeted SAGA
acetylation at the promoter nucleosomes using competitor chromatin. The
activator is removed by Gal4 oligonucleotide competition, and the array
is subjected to nucleosome displacement by the bromodomain mutant
complex, followed by IP with an anti-acetyl H3 antibody. The graph
depicts the loss of promoter-acetylated nucleosomes after nucleosome
displacement by the Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain mutant complex. The %IP was
normalized to the %IP at the A probe. The solid line depicts
the H3 acetylation profile along the template, and the dashed line
corresponds to the effect of Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain mutant on the H3
acetylation profile. A Student t test was used to determine
the statistical significance of the difference in the acetylation
profile before and after SWI/SNF treatment. The P values for
the t test are given below each segment of the
array.
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SAGA acetylation was targeted to the promoter by the artificial activator Gal4-VP16 and competitor chromatin. After the activator was removed with Gal4 oligonucleotide competition, we incubated the array with the Swi2 bromodomain mutant complex. When assayed with the scanning in vitro ChIP, the Swi2 bromodomain mutant complex showed reduced nucleosome displacement, compared to wild type as indicated by the lack of suppression of the SAGA nucleosome acetylation peak (compare Fig. 4A and B). The Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain mutant was not able to specifically target acetylation in the promoter region. Rather, hyperacetylated and hypoacetylated nucleosomes were equally displaced along the length of the array by the mutant complex. The wild-type SWI/SNF complex displaced 51% of acetylated nucleosomes at the A probe and 11% at the C probe, whereas the bromodomain mutant displaced only 16% at the A probe, and 6% at the C probe (Fig. 4B). Although some displacement occurred at the promoter, the mutant complex did not target acetylated nucleosomes as well as the wild type. Therefore, the Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain is important for SWI/SNF-mediated displacement of SAGA-acetylated histones.
RSC suppresses the histone acetylation peak generated by activator targeting of SAGA. The Swi/Snf-related RSC complex also displaces nucleosomes in trans (7, 32). Indeed, Reinke et al. propose that other chromatin remodelers displace nucleosomes in the absence of SWI/SNF (50). Although ChIP and microarray analysis localized RSC at the promoters of RNA polymerase III-transcribed genes, those authors acknowledge that RSC is difficult to immunoprecipitate and may bind at other promoters (40). Moreover, RSC interacts genetically with SAGA and binds H3 peptides acetylated at lysine 14 (22), while in higher eukaryotes, PBAP, the Drosophila RSC homolog, localizes at hyperacetylated nucleosomes in polytene stains (36). Thus, RSC may be functionally redundant with SWI/SNF and displaces promoter-acetylated nucleosomes in the absence of the latter remodeling complex.
We tested whether RSC displaced SAGA-acetylated nucleosomes by using the scanning in vitro ChIP experiment. The nucleosomal array was bound by the artificial activator Gal4-VP16 and acetylated by SAGA in the presence of competitor chromatin. After targeting acetylation at the promoter, the array was washed, and the activator was removed by Gal4 oligonucleotide competition. With the activator removed, the array was incubated with RSC, ATP, and acceptor DNA. After MNase digestion, IP with the acetyl H3 antibody, and DNA purification, the template was slot blotted onto a nylon membrane. The membrane was sequentially hybridized with a series of probes that spanned the length of the template (Fig. 5A). RSC decreased the level of acetylation at the promoter (Fig. 5B). Interestingly, we observed a slight increase in the level of acetylation at segments distal to the Gal4 binding sites, suggesting that acetylated nucleosomes were transferred from the promoter to the distal region. Thus, RSC nucleosome displacement suppressed the acetylation profile of SAGA.
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FIG. 5. RSC
nucleosome displacement suppresses the SAGA acetylation peak.
(A) RSC reduction of acetylated histone peak can occur
without Gal4-VP16 targeting of this complex. Scanning in vitro ChIP
analysis was performed after RSC nucleosome displacement in the absence
of activator Gal4-VP16. The experiment was as described in Fig.
2. The template is bound
to activator Gal4-VP16, acetylated by SAGA with competitor chromatin,
and the activator is removed by Gal4 oligonucleotide competition. The
array was then subjected to RSC nucleosome displacement and
immunoprecipitated with an anti-acetyl H3 antibody. (B) The
graph depicts the loss of promoter-acetylated nucleosomes after RSC
nucleosome displacement without activator. The %IP was normalized to
the %IP at the A probe. The solid line depicts the H3
acetylation profile along the template, while the dashed line
corresponds to the effect of RSC nucleosome displacement on the H3
acetylation profile. The graph shows the average of two independent
experiments.
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For several years the SWI/SNF complex has been known to be capable of displacing nucleosomes in trans through a process termed octamer transfer (32, 58). Our biochemical data and the in vivo observations of Reinke and Horz (50) suggest it may also play a more direct functional role in promoter activation. Histone acetylation may predispose nucleosomes for displacement in at least two non-mutually exclusive ways. First, histone acetylation may facilitate octamer transfer and/or nucleosome disassembly. Although evidence that histone acetylation may destabilize nucleosomes in some way has been elusive, several reports are consistent with such a possibility. It has been reported that acetylation and ubiquitination of histones H2A and H2B increase the lability of H2A-H2B dimers in chicken erythrocyte nucleosomes (30). Histone H4 tetra-acetylation has been found to reduce the thermal stability of nucleosome cores (53), and H3 and H4 acetylation reduces some of the strong interactions of the histone octamers with DNA (4), a finding consistent with the fact that acetylation can in some instances increase the binding of transcription factors to nucleosomes (29). Moreover, acetylation by p300 has been shown to increase the transfer of H2A/H2B dimers onto histone chaperones during action of the ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complex ACF (20).
Another possibility is that histone acetylation marks nucleosomes for displacement by bromodomain-containing chromatin remodeling complexes such as SWI/SNF. This possibility is consistent with our observation that displacement of acetylated histones by SWI/SNF is at least partly dependent on the Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain. Bromodomains are acetyl-lysine binding domains (11, 61), and the SWI/SNF bromodomain has been shown to anchor the complex onto acetylated nucleosomes (14, 16). Interactions of the Swi2/Snf2 bromodomain with acetylated nucleosomes might participate in the process of histone displacement directly or act by concentrating SWI/SNF on those nucleosomes. Numerous transcription- or chromatin-related proteins contain bromodomains and may have reasons for interacting with acetylated histones (23). However, the large number of bromodomains found in the RSC chromatin remodeling complex in yeast, a complex similar to SWI/SNF (22), is consistent with the possibility that bromodomain acetylated histone interactions are widely used in nucleosome remodeling and displacement.
P.P. is a Senior Research Fellow with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. J.L.G. was supported by the Pew Latin American Fellows Program in the Biomedical Sciences. This study was supported by NIGMS Grant R37 GM047867 to J.L.W.
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